Stokes Valley Community Centre Inc
March 2002

Kia ora, Greetings From the Stokes Valley Community Centre!

Today is a gorgeous day and we're hoping that the weather holds out for us all as we head into March. This month has been busy with most of our groups restarting for the year and it's great to see familiar faces.

There have been a few changes.
Monday is still the day our Mental Health Consumers Union and Friends Group meets for a shared meal and fellowship/support. Anyone is welcome to attend this group if you identify as been a mental health consumer or a friend. A koha is asked for the shared meal and I can vouch that they're well worth it! This group "normally" starts at 10am and goes through to 2 pm-3 pm (ish).

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank the Sisters from the Church of Latter Day Saints for coming in on a Monday, nice, bright and early to help with our house keeping. The sisters do this as a part of their service whilst on their mission and we appreciate their help! Thanks sisters.

Tuesday is the WINZ Job club day however this is yet to start for 2002 so watch this space.

Wednesdays our Artklub meets from 3.30 pm till 6 pm and there are still places available. It's a lot of fun and Megan is a great tutor. So don't miss out!

Wednesdays fortnightly are also the days for our "Skate Park Action Group" meetings that begin at 4.30 pm and go till 5 pm-5.30 pm (ish). So come along and make a difference for our youth of Stokes Valley. The next one is this Wednesday 27th February.

Thursdays brings our 60s Plus Friendship Club that meets weekly at 11 am (ish) onwards for a shared meal and fellowship.
Thursdays fortnightly also sees our "Youth Group" meet at 5.30 pm. It goes until 9pm. A $2.00 donation is required as we have a shared meal.
We also have a Youth room at our centre that youth are welcome to come to and study in or just to take some time out. Please note that while Touch season is on we have changed this night to Wednesdays and the next one is on the February 27th.

We'd like to acknowledge the contribution of funds from the Lower Hutt Lions for their assistance towards our Youth Group evenings/events.

We'd also like to offer a big hug and thanks to Councillor Julie Englebretsen for her advocation and support in securing these funds.

Friday is the day for our "FREE" food run which St Vincent De Pauls kindly allow us to access through them and their worker "FRANK." This happens from 9.30 am onwards until lunch time. Depending on how busy Frank is will depend on when he arrives. So please be prepared to wait and bring some shopping bags as we are always running short. If you have some shopping bags you can donate then please bring them into the centre.

Other things that you may like to know about are:

Our Garage Sale is now happening at the same time as the March Madness stalls in the Speldhurst Park. March 9th 2002.

We are combining our centre "Open Day" with our fundraiser Garage Sale for our Youth Group/Youth Camps. So please support us with your donations.

Our Community Concert Fundraiser is still happening on March 15th and we are still looking for performers. We had advertised earlier that it would be at the Stokes Valley Community Hall however we are still negotiating! So watch for our posters! So come on all you wanna-be stars! Contact me at the centre.

Our proposed Building Youth Confidence Camp for March 30th is also still under negotiations and is dependent on funding available. So watch for our posters or watch this space!

We also have a Paralegal Course coming up which will be for either one morning/afternoon or evening per week for a duration of approximately six weeks. We will put up posters for this with more details about who's running it etc. Watch for our posters!

The Hutt City Council's Community Developments "Coordinators Hui" is coming up on March 7th at 11am till 1pm and will be held at our centre this time.

We also have a "Free" Counsellor available at our centre so just give us a ring if you would like to book a time.

That's about it for now folks except to say that I was at the Cossie Club Village Fair on Sunday 24th February and, trust me, it was a lot of fun! Thanks Cossie Club.

Remember if you have any event coming up then pop in to our centre, give me as much information as you can and I will include it here as well as pop a notice up on our community notice board. The concept of a community calendar doesn't seem to have got off the ground however the offer is still there!

So people until next month...
Take care
Be safe
Enjoy

The Co-ordinator
Janet Te Huia
Stokes Valley Community Centre Inc